I Took My Dog to a Pet Psychic

Aug. 5, 2013— -- Fusion's Culture Editor Alex Alvarez just got a brand new rescue dog named Ollie, who she was told is about 5 years old and a Chihuahua mix.

Like many owners of rescue dogs, Alex wondered what kind of past life Ollie lived. Who were his owners? Why was he abandoned?

In order to answer some of these questions we went to visit Catherine Ferguson, an interspecies psychic reader, flower essence consultant and Reiki Master. Ferguson, who lives in Jersey City, has been devoted to "metaphysical" studies for nearly 30 years. For just 100 bucks, you too could enjoy an hour-long consultation for your pet.

Ferguson says she can also read the minds of animals who were different animals in the past.

"Transmigration is changing species. And I didn't necessarily have any feelings about it, but then I had dogs telling me that they had been a horse a few centuries ago," Ferguson told us. "I've had cats who shared a life with their owners way back when, and they were humans then, they were both humans."

Ferguson became interested in metaphysical studies in the early 1980's. "I just went to classes, psychic skills, how to meditate and things like that, for personal development and I found that it helped me a lot because I was going through a difficult time," said Ferguson.

"Another teacher that I went to for a long time, one of her classes was animal communication. I took it and liked it." Eventually, Ferguson was hooked, and sought out new events and clients.

When we arrived, Ferguson walked us down to her building's basement, littered with lawn ornaments and feral cats (which were notably distracting Ollie throughout his reading). Despite such disturbances, Ferguson communicated with Ollie via images, she said. Thankfully, her spirit guide and Ollie's spirit guides connected, she told us and she was able to give us a reading of Ollie's thoughts and feelings.

Watch the clip above to see highlights from our consultation.